The severity of Hal Jordan's memory issue sent Ambush bug next to the one member of the Justice League that he felt he had a rapport with, Batman.
He came to Batman in his dreams. "You've forgotten somebody ole Bat."
"Who?" Batman's eyes narrowed. "And how?"
"Come with me and find out." Ambush bug held out his hand, a grim look on his normally cheerful face.
"I'm not in the habit of trusting fifth dimensional beings." Batman's eyes narrowed further, almost to slits.
"I'm doing this for a kid who's in a lot of trouble that YOU once trained. A kid that was removed from your memories. Please Batman, at least come and look at what I found."
"Alright." Batman said guardedly. "Take me there."
FLASH! Ambush bug took Batman to the Four Harmonious Ones and the Divine Dragon.
Batman's eyes widened as he took in the five gigantic animal gods. "They exist!"
"The Harmonious ones regulate the circulation of matter and energy between universes, they have the ability, if called upon, to remove a person's matter and energy from circulating." Ambush Bug explained. "In the form of imprisoning them inside of them. Listen... you can hear the children inside calling for help."
Unkie Hal, please find me soon!
Kareru-sama, I am sorry, I could not let them take your life.
Flash-sempai please! You can bend space can't you? Then break in here and come get me! I'm so scared!
Diana-sama, I have willingly sacrificed myself for you, as any of your sisters would. I only ask that you honor my memory, for I have treasured mine of you.
Bat-sama, I have failed. Forgive me.
"Two human children and three shinigami children. The Justice league gave them meaning, meaning to fight, meaning to use their powers in a constructive and helpful manner. They were depressed and felt that their powers had no use and no meaning and you taught them otherwise. And then a very, very powerful evil took them away and surpressed your memories of them." Ambush bug explained. "Please Batman, let me unblock your memory centers. These children need help, and these events will help you get them OUT of here."
"Very well, but return me to my bed and a dreaming state first."
"I need to anyway." Ambush bug smiled, returning Batman to his small cot off the Bat cave's main chamber. He pressed his hand to the Bat's forehead, carefully feeling about his mind.
He found it, the shinigami named Seiji.
Batman heard Seiji's thoughts in his head, as Ambush Bug drew upon his memories of Batman to help unlock Batman's memories of Seiji.
(Cue music: never meant to belong from the Bleach OST)
I am the sky, I want to touch the earth but there is too much space between us... please, someone bring the rain so I may touch the earth I long for.
Someone, give me purpose, a blade without drive is as dull as a butter knife.
Someone lift this melancholy in my heart, or at least calm it, so its dirge strains do not sting as badly.
The memories began to flow, Batman saw himself through Seiji's eyes, a rolemodel, an enigma, someone whom he would lay down his life for despite being a mystery.
Seiji ran through Gotham's streets at top shunpo, pursued by a monsterous cloud of Fear Gas. "i have to get out of here." He was in full costume, he'd been hunting hollows, when Scarecrow had begun his attack. He was getting tired, after all, he was only about as strong as a fifth seat or so, probably more like tenth but Tachi, alias Shadow had the ability to boost his powers via a technique called Soul resonance.
Privately he thanked the humans who'd allied with his great grandfather, Eshu Shihouin for bringing their weapon partners with them from their strange world with only one shinigami. They'd brought the technique with them and taught it to the gotei thirteen's hundred and fifty odd castaways from the Omnikitsudo.
"We can't run forever Nightrunner." That was Seiji's superhero alias.
"I know Shadow."
"What should we do?"
There was only one thing to do, find the source the Feargas was coming from and neutralize it.
"We need to find the Batman." Seiji grunted. "He has an antidote and he probably knows where this shit is coming from."
"Wait a second..." Tachi was about to point out everything wrong with this idea.
"Soul perception." Being part human had its advantages, primarily the ability to find any soul you wanted whether it had significant reiatsu or not. Though in this city it would be difficult to find a low reiatsu soul, Seiji had once been in the crowd when Batman foiled a robbery by the Joker. He knew what Batman's soul looked and felt like.
Seiji turned and dove into the cloud of feargas. "THIS WAY!"
In seconds Seiji's fight or flight instinct kicked into overdrive, his heartrate was already high, so it wasn't affected as much. However, adrenaline kicked into his system and hallucinations began to plague him after only ten minutes in the gas.
Seiji plunged through the Hallucinations, dashing through the strange apparitions plaguing his mind.
A scythe plunged down out of nowhere. Now that slice wasn't a hallucination, it had grazed his cheek.
Scarecrow loomed up out of the shadows. "Now you're interesting, how is it you're still conscious with my feargas in your system?"
"You'll never learn." Seiji rammed Scarecrow in the kidney with his fist and a good hard burst of reiatsu. "KAGEKUKKENRYUU!" The fact that Scarecrow went flying and hit the nearest wall hard enough for blood to drip from his mask supported the idea that this was not an illusion. Seiji barely noticed. He plunged on towards the soul signature he sensed in the distance.
Seiji did not ask for permission or give Batman any warning, he grabbed a galvanized metal trash can he found in the nearest alley, bounced back and forth up the walls at top shunpo, flipped over the Dark Knight's head and clamped it down over the feargas emitter on the roof of an abandoned factory. "KUSANAGIIII!" Seiji roared, melting the can over the emitter into slag with the flames coming off of Tachi's sword form.
The feargas emitter was now severely damaged. But there were almost certainly canisters below that had to be disarmed.
"SHUNKO!" Seiji activated his rookie form of his clan's favorite technique and began to flash step in a circle around the area in a move similar to Flash. Between the kido and the flames emanating from Tachi's blade, a whorl of flame and magic rose up, blowing off or burning off the feargas, kicking up immense amounts of wind.
Once the air was clear, Seiji doubled over out of breath, leaning on Tachi's blade for support. Then he lifted a foot and without any explanation to the Dark Knight and Boy Wonder, kicked a huge hole in the cieling. THERE! The abandoned building had had pipes laid through it by Scarecrow.
He dropped, still running on pure adrenaline and reiatsu shared with his partner. "Shut off valve shut off valve..." He growled. Above, a molten bubble appeared on the slag covering the feargas emitter. Odds are Seiji was gonna collapse the instant the adrenaline was out of his system so he had to move fast!
Batman gave a small, almost smile, eyes narrowing as he pulled out a cryogenic batarang. FWICK! it stuck in the molten mess and covered it in a huge chunk of ice. That should help for now. Now to go down below and stop the canisters. Whoever that boy was, he certainly was in a hurry. Maybe he'd been afflicted with the gas and run to put a stop to the attack. It sure seemed as if that were the case. The boy was panting, and Batman suspected he either wasn't human or a metahuman for him to still be standing.
He looked at Robin expectantly, who gave a nod, and then they both disappeared into the hole Seiji had made.
Seiji started pinching off pipes with fire and shunko, following the pipes to their source. Scarecrow's minions charged him with scythes and sickles raised. Seiji gave off a burst of shunko energy, sending them flying. His mastery of the technique was nowhere near as strong as his great grand aunt Yoruichi's. That much he accepted without hesitation. But Seiji was determined that he was going to win.
Seiji dove onto the catwalk of the primary feargas tank and its computer system. Batman was already there ahead of him, hacking the computer. Seiji blinked. "how'd you... i must be hallucinating."
Robin reached out gently to touch Seiji. "Naw... here..." He held out a syringe to Seiji. "This should counteract the gas. Nice work, a bit too Flashy for the Boss's taste though." Seiji grabbed the syringe without hesitation and jammed it into his arm.
Then he hit the ground, exhaustion and the sudden cessation of adrenaline causing him to pass out. Tachi transformed back into human shape and Seiji could hear him calling out. "Nightrunner! Nightrunner daijoubu ka?"
Then everything went black.
"I have come for my son Batman." A man's voice was saying.
"He can't be moved right now, damn near gave himself heart failure. His body is busy clearing the feargas from his system."
"My son is a Shihouin, the day a poison as dishonorable as Feargas takes his life is the day I eat my mask!"
"I understand that, but you must understand my suspicion. All records indicate your family has been here for two hundred years, but there are some anomalies /and/ those records appear to be forged."
"And what would you have us do when we live for hundreds of years and you humans only live for a century if you're lucky?"
"Please consider my offer."
"I will, as long as you don't treat my son as a hostage."
I am descended from the same blood as the legendary Yoruichi Shihouin, my many times great grand aunt. I have a duty I inherited from my great grandfather Eshu Shihouin, and no connection to this duty, or this world.
What is a shinigami to do?
What would Bat-sama do?
This, living in Gotham and being superpowered, is an important question. I need a purpose. I need a reason to follow that duty.
"What am I doing in this world? I should just melt from it, and disappear. It would be better, than having no purpose to fight at all."
Batman looked up from his work at the bat computer, surprised when the boy muttered in his delirium. "What am I doing in this world? I should just melt from it... and disappear... it would be better... than having no purpose at all..."
The boy had muttered that phrase four times already in his sleep. It was why Batman had tried to convince the father to let him train "Nightrunner" as Seiji supposedly liked being called. Batman understood the boy's despair. Children with superpowers needed support and guidance, or you often ended up with new supervillains.
According to his father, the boy had been out on patrol. The "weapon" as the other boy called himself, Tachi, said that Seiji had tried to outrun the cloud of feargas but in the end been unable to, and so had decided to dive right in and find Batman. "He said Batman was probably already wherever the feargas was being emitted from trying to stop it." Tachi was getting along swimmingly with Robin in the three days his "meister" had been unconscious.
And this whole "weapon/meister" thing was dubious to Batman. Still, it had left Tachi conscious after that incident, conscious to advocate for his master's well being and get into contact with the boy's father.
A super powered family made Batman nervous, though when he'd brought that up at the last league meeting Hawkgirl had thought it was cute, and far more stable for a superpowered human child to grow up in like company than being alone.
"Nightrunner huh?" Batman sighed. "Well Nightrunner, when you wake up I guess I'll try to help you find your purpose, so long as you follow my rules. I don't like meta humans in my city fighting unmonitored. I tend to be suspicious that way, but my suspicions are rarely wrong." Alfred had told him that sometimes talking to an unconscious person helped them recover. Batman wasn't a talker, but he tried. "And I know what its like to feel as if life has no meaning."
If I were the rain... could i bring two hearts together, the way the rain does the earth and sky, even though the two never touch?
I want to bring my heart somewhere that it can touch another. I am the sky, I want to touch the earth. Please, someone bring rain.
The coolness of the Batcave soothed Seiji's senses to alertness. The squeaking of bats calmed him. When he opened his eyes, one of them was hovering in front of his nose. This particular bat had a piece missing from his ear and a scar across his body. Seiji sat up, and held out his hand, and the bat landed in it.
His senses told him someone was watching. He looked up, and saw Robin peering at him from the stairs. Robin turned and ran upstairs yelling. "ALFRED, HEY ALFRED, HE'S AWAKE!"
"Oh don't shout master Robin, the boy just woke up. Go call his parents and tell them he's awake."
"okee dokey!"
An old man walked in with a tray holding two mugs, one of simple broth, the other of tea. "You've been out for three days."
"Please convey my apologies to Bat-sama." Seiji bowed his head.
"You are lucky to be alive, and you are to drink the entire mug of broth and cup of tea."
Seiji chuckled. "So I take it Tachi got in touch with my parents."
"yes, they were very insistant on you being returned to them despite you being unconscious. And Batman wanted you to train with him. Your parents seem to be as distrustful as he."
"They are. The confederated clans don't trust outsiders easily."
"Confederated clans?" Batman asked as he strode in.
"A group of super powered families dedicated to the defense of their local areas from threats to the souls of humans living in that area." Seiji replied. "Anything that threatens a human soul, it is our mission to pursue." He said stiffly
"I see." Batman mused.
"We do not trust easily, because humans tend to fear that which they don't understand. It would be a disgrace if we were turned upon by the humans we dedicated ourselves to protect. So we work from the shadows, asking for no recognition, no gratitude, just peace." Seiji told him with a dull look in his eyes.
Apathy, that was it, Batman realized. Seiji had an immense amount of apathy in his mind.
The boy wanted purpose. He looked up at Batman with these dead eyes and under the cowl Bruce thought. What happened to this kid? These are the eyes of a soldier, not a child.
Seiji hungrily drank the broth and tea. His stomach was desperately empty after three days unconscious. "Got any milk?"
"for that healthy an appetite I'll make sure its nice and cold." Alfred smiled, hurrying upstairs.
"What sort of enemies have you fought?" Batman asked quietly.
"Long story." Seiji smiled. "Lets just say my powers have a ways to go yet."
Batman's eyebrow rose at that, a ways to go to what? "I would like you to come train with me, your parents were quite dubious."
Alfred didn't take long to return with a tall icy cold glass of milk. It smelled like he'd put a little nutmeg in too.
"I'd like to." Seiji said quietly. "Will I be fighting beside you?"
"Not at first. I want to see where your skills are in terms of strength."
"Rule number one... give me everything." Seiji was pounding Batman's defenses without his shunko.
When Seiji blocked one of batman's punches without a flinch Batman smirked. "Rule number two, then you give me more. Where's that white technique of yours?"
"The shunko is a family secret technique..."
"Rule number two..." Batman stopped and glared at Seiji.
Seiji looked steadily right back. "No lawsuits if I break your bones." He grumbled. "The shunko is not a toy to be brought out for a mere sparring match. Nor is it an average technique."
"Do it." Batman's eyes narrowed further.
Seiji concentrated, the energy burst from his back, shredding the back of the loose t-shirt he was wearing. Batman was blown back, not far away three worktables and the Batmobile got blown over on their sides.
Batman picked himself up and cracked his neck. "Rule number three, I make the rules, and i think we need to find a better reinforced training area. We're not done with that technique." Batman glared at Seiji as he got up. "And please put the Batmobile back in its proper place."
"Of course." Seiji hopped over the rubber ropes of the fighting ring and carefully tipped the Batmobile upright again. He then began to carefully put the worktables to rights.
"You did what I told you to do." Batman sighed, massaging his temples. "Don't feel too badly, just clean up."
Batman strode over to the batcomputer and started work on analyzing a recent robbery string. Gemstones... usually in Gotham that meant Mister Freeze. But it wasn't diamonds being taken. That suggested that it wasn't him. After all, Freeze stole diamonds for his cryogenics inventions. He needed those gems in specific. Yet not a single diamond had been taken.
"Hmm, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, pearls, gold and even silver coins, not a diamond among them." Batman grunted irritably.
"Maybe its not Freeze." Seiji was carefully sweeping up glass, using hazard gloves and goggles to clean up whatever was inside.
"Really." Batman smirked. "And what made you think I was thinking of Mister Freeze?"
"you mentioned diamonds. Its never explicitly said in the news coverage, but Mister Freeze only takes diamonds, thats more than just a robbery signature. Diamonds are used in industry when they come out of the ground in qualities too poor for jewelery. But in the end, the gems properties are the same. So the fact that he steals diamonds is either of psychological significance or practical."
"So how would you go about figuring out some suspects?" Batman quirked a brow.
"Different villains have different loot preferences. Sort the type of gemstone taken by percentages, then compare them with known jewel thieves in the area and in neighboring pockets of supervillain activity. Police records will have lists of what's been taken. After that, start with the top five closest matches and check up on them with process of elimenation."
Batman nodded and carefully began entering the data. Lets see if Seiji's wits were as sharp as his magic, whatever that odd white magic was. Shunko he'd called it?
"here's the top five." Batman sighed. "but i can elimenate numbers three and four immediately. Penguin's just had joint surgery, so he can be counted out, at the moment he's risking permanent impairment if he gets out of bed. Catwoman, aka Selena Kyle can never be counted a hundred percent out of any jewelery heist, but none of the jewels were connected to cats and I know for a fact she's in Africa right now collecting big cat DNA. I just spoke with her via video phone yesterday and she's not getting back for at least another week." Batman hrmed. "I give it only a five percent chance she's involved on the lack of cat related connections alone. Sooooo..." He frowned. "That leaves Star Sapphire, huh, didn't think Mirror master would make the list, he seems to have a thing for emeralds according to police records so that puts him in the list and Harley Quinn seems to have an affection for rubies and colored diamonds."
Batman pecked a few keys and a friendly red and yellow masked face appeared. "Flash here!"
"Flash, I need your help and it won't take you long. Can you check up on Mirror Master for me? Find out whether or not he's somehow come into possession of an unusual amount of emeralds."
"on it, just a second. I happen to have found his latest hideout. He just doesn't know I know where it is yet." Flash winked, disappearing from camera view.
Thirty seconds later he reappeared. "Nothing suspicious. He does have a couple of emerald rings and a pocket watch with the gemstones in it, but the watch has his initials on it and the rings look old enough to be family heirlooms."
If he did have family heirlooms with emeralds in them, it could easily explain his affection for the gems. Criminals tended to be superstitious and cowardly in Batman's experience, which meant that they'd easily develop psychological preferences for one gem or another based on past experiences. "Thank you Flash, I'll be bringing a guest up to the watchtower with me tonight, I need the training facility that you and Superman normally use."
"you find a new friend?" Flash grinned. "You're always picking up strays, how'd his parents die this time?"
"They're still alive thank you." Seiji strode forwards, shivering a little from the chill in the cave.
"Jaaaays, Bats get that kid an extra shirt will you? the back of that one got ripped open! How'd you tear a shirt like that kid?"
"My trump card attack initially springs from my back before spreading over my body. The back of my uniform is designed to tear away from the force and reattach." Seiji yawned. "Nightrunner, nice to meet ya."
"Nightrunner huh? you a speedster too?"
"probably nowhere near as fast as you but I /am/ fairly decent in the speed department." Seiji decided to show off, Flash stepping to the locker room and returning with a sweatshirt. This he pulled on and grinned at Flash.
"not bad, still can't beat me though. So how strong was that trump card?"
"I accidentally knocked over the Batmobile. Batman did say that rule one was "give me all you've got", and that rule number two was "and then you give me more." I was just following his rules. Not to mention I gave him a chance to say not to." Seiji giggled a bit darkly, purely out of nervousness.
"Seijiiii... Alfred sent me with some tea, and he says you'd better not have ripped another shirt because Shunko tears are hard to mend." Tachi pounced his Meister eagerly, then he saw who was there. "oh hiya! I'm Tachi, aka Shadow. I'm Seiji-kun's sidekick! Plus I've got perks!"
"What sort of perks huh?" Flash asked, a huge ear to ear grin on his face.
Seiji held out his hand and Tachi transformed into a Katana with a scarlet, flame and grass patterned handle and scarlet silk wrapping the handle. "He can turn into a katana." Grinned Seiji. "And he can boost my spirit energy, just about double it."
"Wait, so you're saying you aren't at full power without Tachi and that he can't fight on his own?" Batman asked.
"Ayup!" Tachi's face appeared on the blade. "Gomenasai Bat-sama, I assumed you'd figured it out by now."
"I suspected it, but I couldn't tell for certain." Batman smirked at Seiji. "So technically you were and weren't breaking rules one and two."
"That depends, do you consider us one power or two?" Tachi asked with an equally daring smirk as he changed back.
"Hey, i think its nifty, but as superpowers go doesn't turning into a weapon suck? I mean you can't see anything in there can you?"
"I can kinda see. I can use Seiji's senses. Or I can "surface" and show my face across the blade in which case I can see and hear, but not smell or touch. In a town like Gotham, it has the advantage of protecting me from varying toxins. Lets face it, Joker, Ivy, Scarecrow, there are some pretty notable poison users in this town." Tachi grinned. "The downside is that weapon form is the only time I gain toxin immunity. If I change out, I'm finished. And if one of them happens to have a soul thats compatible with mine they could just scoop me up and run away with me." Tachi sighed and drooped a bit regretfully. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I've trained in the ninja way just like Seiji. But... heh... I'm strongest as a duo. Hence the Sidekick title even though Seiji's only a couple years older than me."
"Alright, I'll run ahead and tell Supes to get the high powered training area ready for some visitors. See you two later. I'll be sure to have some teenager food waiting for when you're done. How's hotdogs sound?"
"Awesome. Betchu I can eat ten of them."
"oh no bets there, speedsters tend to have high rates of metabolism." Flash winked and signed off.
"i like him." Tachi grinned. "So cheerful."
"Flash is a people person, his strength is in his social skills. Information I need to beat out of my rogues gallery, he can charm out of his." Batman sighed.
"Jealous?" Seiji asked with a cynical smirk.
"Not at all, not every villain can be charmed out of information." Batman told Seiji. "Further, every crime fighter has to develop their own style. Gotham is a rough town, and intimidation serves me much better."
"I see." Seiji sighed a bit, drooping slightly. That was one more thing he needed to improve in, and one more reminder that as a shinigami descended from interdimensional castaways, he didn't really belong here.
"You'll find your style." Batman chuckled a bit at Seiji's disappointment. "Everyone does." He touseled Seiji's hair. "now go bring Alfred that shirt and tell him I said sorry for inconveinancing him."
The Watchtower was every bit as amazing as Seiji thought it would be as he followed Batman into the main control room. "Sorry to interrupt your evening Superman, these two would have jeopardized the batcave's structural integrity if I trained them here."
"That strong huh?" Superman looked suspiciously down at the two teens.
"don't look at me, I'm just an amplifying device." Tachi yawned. Following at his feet was a tiny black kitten with red eyes.
"And the furball?" Superman asked in amusement.
The cat hissed at him irritably. "Aki has been specially bred to sense spiritually based abilities and the presence of ghosts, demons and other phantasms." Seiji replied with a chuckle. "That said, its made him easily irritated, and he's got to learn sometime to tolerate being around super powered folk. I am a spiritual combatant, as are all of my family, hence the skull mask instead of Gotham's more recognized visage. A familiar is always useful, and sometimes comforting though I worry about Aki's temper on occasion."
Flash tried to reason with the kitten, to get it to sit in his arms or let its chin get scratched, and got an ankle full of tiny kitten claws for his trouble. Wonder Woman arched her brows and wisely kept her distance. But when the Martian Manhunter, normally quite adept with animals, tried to lure Aki to him, and got bit, he straightened up with a grimace. "That cat is smarter than most of his kind, but his mind is a maelstrom of fury for all but Shadow. I would suggest leaving him to his master."
With that Superman, chuckling, and Batman, glowering at the tiny black ball of fur that followed them, lead the way to the high powered sparring arena. "Right. Since you damn near sent me flying off a fifty foot drop the last time, I'll be coaching, and your sparring partner will be Superman." Batman looked like he was almost amused.
"Are you sure thats wise?" Seiji asked. "My ranged ability is heavily based in purifying magic."
"I can take the beating." Superman grinned reassuringly. "Besides, its a sparring match, not a real fight. The point is to assess your strength and skills, which can't be done with Batman as your opponent at your level."
The sparring began in earnest then. Seiji managed a couple of weak Bakudo, which nicked Superman quite expertly, and his hado left more than its share of singemarks. But it was his punches and kicks that made a better impression. Batman kept correcting his stances, "lower center of gravity" "your guard is too low! never relax your defenses for an instant!"
After Seiji was good and sweaty batman straightened up. "now, that last technique of yours, Shunko, this is going to be a time trial. I want to see how long you can hold the technique /and/ defend yourself. At the same time, Superman I want you to try to break his defenses. Seiji, go into a defensive stance, no attacking just defend."
When Superman aimed a punch at Seiji, he was quickly burned by the white light that surrounded him. Seiji caught the second punch, gripping the man of steel's fist tightly for a full minute and letting go. Superman's fingers were red, swollen and looked fairly burned. "Ick. Magic is always nasty business for me to deal with but training is training." And he kept at it for a full twenty minutes, and then at thirty, the white light suddenly broke, shattering into shards and disappearing. Seiji fell to his knees, panting and leaning on Tachi's sword form for support. The excess oxygen sucked in by his exertions made him dizzy in a pleasant way.
"Not bad." Batman mused. "needs work. I think I figured it out now though. You combine those spells you used earlier with the metabolic energy from your body and it boosts your speed, strength, reaction times and endurance. However, i'm guessing it uses a lot of energy and the trade off is if it has to be sustained for a long period of time you actually risk passing out in the middle of battle."
"Pretty much." Seiji's stomach was growling. "But if I practice enough it becomes easier to hold it for longer, like muscle memory."
It didn't take long for Flash to make hotdogs, and they were joined by two other league guests, "Static, Gear, these are Nightrunner and Shadow. I'm training them personally for a bit."
"hey dude! nice to meet you. How'd you get a ticket up here?"
"ah well, my guess is that Batman didn't want the blowback effect from my technique wrecking his cave." Seiji grinned. "So he must have figured a training area intended for the man of steel could more than do the job."
Static laughed. "I'll say, what did you knock over?"
"Three worktables and the Batmobile, blown back by the force of my spirit energy." Seiji blushed. "i'm so embarassed. I've lived in Gotham City all my life, Batman's the city's inspiration and the Batmobile a well loved icon. Hell, I know its sound even if I can't see it. I've heard it enough times to know that engine roar blindfolded." Seiji sighed, eating his hotdog more slowly.
Aki started running around Static's feet. "Hey there little guy... what's wrong?"
Aki hissed at Static, and ran behind Tachi. "he's got a foul temper Static be careful."
"Aw come on, he's just a kitten how bad can he..." Static tried to pick Aki up.
Aki hissed and bit Static's glove. "YOUCH!"
Aki stuck his tail in the air, fur standing on end due to the electricity it had picked up from static. The cat was more or less flashing his bum at the young hero before bouncing off his lap and going to go sit in Batman's usual computer chair. The cat glared at Batman as he came in as if to say "i'm in your chair, what are you gonna do about it?"
"Anyway guys thanks for having me up here so often. I enjoy the company." Static grinned.
"No problem." John was too busy with his lunch to be very talkative.
"Your cheerful demeanor is enough Static." Wonder Woman grimaced at her plate. "They aren't really made with dog meat are they?"
"Nope." Static grinned. "Beef, pork, sometimes both."
Sighing in relief that she wasn't actually eating dog, Wonder Woman started on hers. "And teenagers eat these things? i can tell the meat is heavily cured."
"oh come on, I only grill all beef franks." Flash grinned. "no offense to pigs, but their meat tends to be heavy in the cholesterol department, and I don't plan on having a heart attack till I'm fifty at least." he flashed a brilliant smile at the others.
Seiji rolled his eyes. That kind of charming good cheer was catching, but not Seiji's style. He was a quieter fellow. "Not really in a hot dog mood all of a sudden, may I borrow your kitchen?"
"Sure, help yourself." Flash grinned.
Seiji got up and flash stepped to the kitchen off the mess hall. He smiled and carefully began to measure ingredients. After a few moments the Justice League members could hear a young tenor singing happily from the kitchen. "Have a Banana Hannah, have a salami Tommy, have an ordervie hervie, everybody eats when they come to my house. I'll make your favorite dishes, hopen that good food fills ya, work my hands to the bone in the kitchen alone, you'd better eat if it kills yah."
Superman chuckled. After about fifteen minutes, the smell of something delicious began to waft out of the kitchen, spices, meat, and something absolutely delectable. After half an hour Seiji came out with a tray expertly balenced on one hand and enough curry for everyone at the table including himself.
Flash started to drool. "oh my god that smells like heaven."
"One of my talents. I'm just glad i can cook for an appreciative audience."
The capsicum in the hot pepper caused J'on to cough furiously. "Milk." The substance best able to counter the principle burning chemical in hot peppers was instantly on offer. "Thank you, I have never tasted such spices."
"Curry is well known for being either spicy or sour, and very delicious." Seiji grinned. "This one has carefully shredded lemon grass and ginger. I'm told in the philipenes its their chicken soup."
Wonder woman breathed a deep lungful of the spicy meat and vegetables poured over fluffy brown rice, then dipped up her first spoonfull, cautiously popping it in her mouth and savoring it. "oh my, this is wonderful." She sighed in delight and took another mouthful. "Such wonderful flavors, despite the burn its very comforting."
Superman also needed some milk to tamp down the burn. But Hawkgirl was whooping in delight by the third mouthful. "oh soooooo lovely! I didn't know you had such firey foods on your planet."
"if you ever want a shocker try the bhut jolokia, also known as the ghost chili." Seiji chuckled. "Burns like Tartarus and some restaurants have to prepare it with gas masks. Hell the natives in India who developed it use it as elephant repellant!"
"I've never had curry." Static peered dubiously at his plate, then took a big bite and instantly turned red in the face. "Hoooooooot!" He squeaked, reaching for the glass of milk Seiji had served for each person at the table.
Despite initially getting burned, Superman was heartily digging into his share. Indeed, the Justice league didn't seem to mind the burn much in the least. Even John Stewart, who was in a fairly foul mood that day, something about a recent defeat, softened up a bit for the spicy treat.
"They don't have these 'hot peppers' on Themiscyra, do you know where I can get some seeds of them for mother? I'm sure she wouldn't mind them."
"Try the thai dragon or cayanne varieties, you can dry them and string them on wreaths. The Heirloom varieties are more stable genetically, but the hybrid varieties are more resistant to drought and disease." Seiji grinned. "My granny has a wreath of cayanne in her kitchen at all times, plucks a pepper from it when she needs some for cooking."
"really..." Wonder woman nodded. "Themiscyra doesn't like to use outside technology, a variety that dries well will go over well there."
Seiji didn't mind, and a week or so later managed to bring some seeds of both peppers and sweet, multicolored pepper seeds up to the watchtower for Wonder Woman, who then used the Javelin and a pair of messanger birds bound for her mother to deliver the seeds. She paused off the coast of the island, and when the Amazons took notice and stopped to watch her craft she waved in greeting and released the messanger birds with their package and letter.
The letter read,
Dear mother,
Normally I would call, but a call would not make this delivery. A young trainee of Batman's is fond of these spicey peppers, and he says these varieties dry well. They burn, but i'm told they are good for circulation, the immune system, and pain. I hope your herbalists and cooks can use them. I am sending a couple of dried 'chili peppers' as they call them in man's world, as well as two heirloom seed packets and the hybrid of a sweet variety you should be able to raise for many years to come.
Be well,
Your daughter,
Diana
Hippolyta smiled as she read the letter from her daughter, turning the spices over in her hands. "Please have the herbalists analyze these." She handed the dried peppers to her assistant. "as for the seeds, I shall have them tested in my garden next growing season."
"Aren't they gonna be mad you sent them a gift from man's world?" Seiji asked curiously from the back seat. He, Tachi, Static, Gear and Hawkgirl were joining Diana for the delivery that day.
"There are restrictions on imports yes, but they primarily focus on technology, weapons, and the like. However, seeds and food are traditionally tested by the queen and her herbalists. Several times odd plantlife and even canisters of food and seeds have washed up on the shore in my lifetime. Flotsom is checked over by the queen and her assistants for any contaminants and then put to use where its most needed. Once one of poison ivy's creatures washed up, wasn't very helpful but from what mother told me the plant creature made for great combat practice." Diana chuckled to herself at the thought.
"i've fought poison ivy before." Static said with something akin to pride on his face. "She's just plain nasty."
Seiji made a gagging noise.
"What is it?"
"My family are ninjas, we train to resist poisons, especially common ones in Gotham, by taking extremely microscopic amounts." Seiji's face was priceless. "I swear Ivy's three most common taste like pine pitch, tannin and sulphered mollassas. I could identify them by the odor by now." He grimaced.
"It sounds like such pursuits are dangerous." Wonder Woman's voice was concerned, though she was concentrating on piloting so Seiji couldn't see her face.
"If not managed correctly, but granny is a master. She's got such good defenses once she was in a crowd that Ivy gassed and she had to /fake/ being affected by that shit." Seiji growled a bit. "We Shihouin Clan folk are hardy Wonder Woman, admittedly our women more so than our men. My little sister is far stronger than me in the brawn department and she's only eight."
Hawkgirl felt the need to put in her two cents. "In the Thanigarian military experts in both resisting and counteracting poisons are highly prized. It takes skill Wonder Woman, but what Seiji just mentioned, building up resistance to common toxins, it is feasible with primative methods in a low tech environment. I've heard humans in Texas and the Appalacian mountains regularly perform rituals involving poisonous snakes and in Appalacia they actually drink the venom I've heard."
"Why?"
"ew, i've heard of them, the snake worshipers." Seiji grimaced. "In the bible there's a passage in the book of matthew about snakes and poison. According to legend a preacher was walking in the mountains and thinking about that book when he found a rattlesnake. He remembered the passage and picked it up, handling the venomous reptile without getting bit /at all./" Seiji shivered.
"interesting." Wonder Woman mused. "I've never heard that story."
"I'll bring my book of north american tall tales to the next training session." Seiji grinned. "You may find the story of Tia Miseria and her magic peach tree amusing. So the story goes she got Death himself stuck in it for weeks. But nobody could die, including an elder in the village who was very sick and suffering greatly without release. It was this elder who convinced Tia miseria to let Death go from the tree to try and ease her suffering."
"Interesting."
"My favorite is the story of the cows in vermont that evolved uneven legs so they can only go around their mountain in one direction." Tachi grinned.
"I like the story of the Wendigo." Seiji shivered. "A fevered madness inflicted by a howling, catlike ghost. So the story goes, the Wendigo inflicts psychic terror to drive lone travelers from their tents in the cold, then drags them away so fast their feet burn! I'll bet if it really existed, the wendigo would use the speed force no doubt! No other superpower can create such an effect as the Wendigo's! It drags its victims away so fast their feet burn and nothing is left of them but two boots filled with ashes!"
"I like the story of Mike Fink, simply cause we know his descendant."
"Mike fink?" Wonder Woman asked.
"King of the Keelboatmen! He trained his strength by wrestling bears and could propel them and any opponent for miles!"
"His descendant, Bloodrayne, is from our sister clan the Fongs, /she/ lives in Metropolis. Bright, shiny, somewhat less polluted." Tachi sighed in blissful longing. "The only thing I hate about Gotham is the huge amount of pollution. You'd think with all the money the titans of industry there have they'd muzzle their smokestacks with filters!" Clearly Tachi was jealous.
"So how powerful is this Bloodrayne guy?" Static wanted to know.
"Girl, Bloodrayne is a girl. And she's fairly agile, strong spirit force, she can knock you over without touching you Static I'm sure about that. She's not so good with the shunko our clans use though. If she tries to use it straight out, it blows up and burns her back. She's got tattoos just to cover the scars at the age of fourteen." Seiji sighed. "She's got the foulest temper I've ever seen on a woman."
"The scarring wasn't too terrible was it?" Hawkgirl asked, mildly concerned for this "Bloodrayne's" potentially embarassing disfigurement.
"Naw... just noticable! If she went to her family doctor like that he'd probably call child services." Tachi added.
Wonder Woman chuckled a bit at the description of Bloodrayne. "Really, a strong female youth in Metropolis. I ought to have Superman check her out."
"oh yes I already know Bloodrayne." Superman sat in the messhall with John and J'on drinking his morning coffee when, the next morning, Seiji had snuck out of his room for an early morning doughnut and found the seniors talking. Superman rolled his eyes tolerantly at the memory. "I see her racing in the evenings, keeps pushing herself to higher and higher speeds. Takes so much joy in it. Interesting girl too, once a broken down car was blocking traffic, so she picks it up and carries it to the service station, with one hand, over her head, between two lanes of traffic. But the problem is her powers are so strong she can't always control them and her temper, despite her good intentions, is as foul as yours Diana. I've seen the restraints her parents put on her powers, boarderline excessive, or so I thought, till she beat the crap out of Kalibak in ten minutes with only half of them off."
"what power." Diana's eyes widened.
"That was my reaction." Batman said quietly. "Keep an eye on her Superman. It doesn't matter if her intentions are good if her temper causes the townspeople to turn on her." Seiji quietly agreed. He knew his adopted cousin couldn't always help herself.
"Alright Batman, i don't tell you how to run things in Gotham unless the fate of the world is at stake, I expect the same courtesy from you." Superman sighed, sipping his coffee.
At that moment the kitchen timer dinged, and Seiji hurried to take the cornbread out of the oven. He came out with it and another carafe of coffee, honey and mollassas drizzled over it, flax seed meal worked into the batter to help fuel superpowered brains that needed all the boost they could get.
"great hestia! Seiji you are always such a skilled cook." Wonderwoman helped herself to a heaping plate.
"It is my way of honoring people whom I hold in high esteem." Seiji said quietly as he refilled Batman's coffee cup. "What better way to show my support for Earth's greatest than to feed them my very best?" He asked quietly.
"You know, when you cook like this, you kind of remind me of Alfred sometimes."
"never met this Alfred guy you mention sometimes Batman, he a good cook?" That was Flash of course.
"Very good. He raised me from a small child. Alfred is one of those personalities that you just don't know what you'd do without. Very caring and nurturing. Rarely bothered by some of the most bizzare circumstances. Several times when my cover was nearly blown he's provided a timely distraction. Not to mention he always manages to see through a person to their real potential." Batman said quietly.
"Heh, so thats what it takes to raise a Batman." John chuckled.
"Well it sure doesn't take sugar and spice." Hawkgirl joked.
Batman glared at her.
"I'm kidding!" Hawkgirl yawned and took a bite of the cornbread. "My god, who got their hands on grana meal?"
"Its corn meal, for corn bread." John ate his without looking up, quite happy with the simple breakfast.
Hawkgirl blushed a bit, then sighed.
"tastes like the seeds of this grass that used to grow on Mars." J'onn only took a small piece for himself. "What is this black fluid on it?" The mollassas made a bit of pale appear in the green of his face.
"Sulphered blackstrap mollassas." Seiji yawned. "Why?"
"excuse me..." J'onn looked like he was going to be sick.
"Seiji, can you get a piece without mollassas on it? I should have warned you, sulpher and magnesium in dietary form trigger nausea in martians." Batman told him. Mollassas was high in iron, magnesium and calcium, and very healthy for human bones. But a martian would just lose their meal if one ate it.
"uh oh..." Seiji hurried off to make some chamomile and lemon tea as well as find some without mollassas on, just a little honey.
J'onn returned, a little pale, to find the warm liquid and unmollassased piece of cornbread waiting for him. "Just a little bit of honey on it. Sorry about that. And the tea is my recipe for an upset stomach."
"Thank you."
"So today, you're going on patrol with me and Robin. We're gonna try to catch one of the thefts in progress." Batman told Seiji. "no training."
"Really?"
"yeah, and then afterwards you and I are gonna have a little talk." Seiji gulped.
"on the other hand, we think we might have figured out who did the jewel robbery."
"Who?"
"One of our suspects and Grundy." Batman replied as they finished their breakfasts. "The problem is the method seemed to indicate raw brawn was being used. It conflicted with the profiles I had. Then a friend of mine found traces of undead magic at the four most recent crime scenes in the spree. Undead magic thats often left behind by zombies."
Seiji gulped. "Yeah, Grundy's the sort of opponent I'd use shunko for. You get a treat tonight Bat-sama. I can fight without restraint."
"a treat huh?"
"You kidding? My ancestors probably would have tried to kill you to keep shunko a secret. Its one of our clans most prized techniques and the Fons only get it because they're supposed to serve us." Seiji sighed, thinking on the fight to come. "heh, i get to go in a smackdown with a guy that can toss a tank 50 yards. The only opponent as dangerous in Gotham is Bane. Heh, Grundy isn't even a local." Seiji cracked his knuckles. "Just say when and where Bat-sama."
"You're sounding a little too excited." Hawkgirl snickered.
"high powered folks need stimulation. I don't know how Superman's able to keep so tranquil he's got like, ten times my firepower /and/ the gentleness of a lamb." Seiji shook his head.
"Practice." Superman chuckled. "Thats what you come up here to learn."
"Which reminds me, your secret identity should be going to school soon." J'on yawned. "I'll give you a teleport ride to the alley near the schoolyard."
"Mkay. Man way to ensure i won't concentrate Bat-sama." Seiji whined as he and Tachi got up and headed for the teleporter.
That night, Seiji waited where Batman told him, and sure enough, not long after their ambush had been set, a huge white man covered in stiches and shuffling along, dressed in 1930's era gangster dress, shuffled over to the back entrance to the gem cutters. "Heh, right on time." Seiji whispered.
Now he just needed Batman to make his move. SHHHHHHHHHRRIIIIIIINNNKKK the bat grenade struck the ground. HIIIIISSSSSSSSSS the stunning gas was made to sting grundy's eyes, formulated with help from Doctor Fate it seemed, for Grundy howled in pain.
Seiji drew his partner, not initiating any high powered attacks yet. Instead, he swung in, trying to assess Grundy's reiryoku. He was essentially a spirit trapped in a dead body. That didn't mean that body was weak, quite the contrary. Seiji's theory was that Grundy's body was fully reinforced with his reiryoku because it would be needed to keep his flesh from rotting fully.
He was rewarded with only a shallow slice and another howl in rage. Grundy swung towards Seiji, but he was already gone. Seiji landed near Batman. "i can cut him but not by much. However, I have a theory about the source of Grundy's massive strength."
"And?"
"Difficult, not unwinnable." Seiji's eyes blazed, turning to golden cat's eyes right in front of Batman.
Batman smirked. "We'll cover you. With any luck we won't need to call the league for help this time."
"This time?"
"usually takes superman and hawkgirl at the very least with the others covering the civilians."
Seiji grinned even wider. "Heh, betcha no criminal in gotham will believe Grundy when he says he was beaten by a kid."
"I don't think they will either." Batman's smirk got a nasty look.
Seiji turned and used Flashstep to give Grundy a target, a trashcan with a large mop head placed on it.
"RAAAAAAAH!" Grundy could barely see, and swiped the garbage can aside, "decoy? grundy no like games!"
"really." Seiji's voice seemed to come from everywhere. "Just ask Bat-sama, i love 'em! Never beat him at chess though, too bad. Way of the Ninja rule one, be one with the darkness, come from everywhere and nowhere, erase your breath and even your soul's pulse. You're never gonna find me and I can keep this up all day!" Seiji sent stinging powder flying seemingly from nowhere. "you've fought a bat, and a hawk, but have you fought a grim reaper? Cause I don't think you have, you know, being a zombie and all. Any reaper in their right mind would have crossed yours over a long time ago."
"you confuse Grundy." Seiji surpressed his laughter as Grundy flung a broken television in the alleyway in the /other/ direction. "Why I no hit you? You shadow man?"
"I told you, I'm a grim, fucking, reaper."
"Grundy no like your mouth! You curse too much!"
More garbage was flung in the wrong direction, but this time flung towards Robin, who dodged it expertly, leaving only a shadow. Grundy turned his back for just a second, chasing after Robin.
It was enough, Seiji swiftly started hammering his spirit energy into Grundy's kidneys from behind. "KAGEKUKKENRYUU!"
Grundy howled in pain, whirling on Seiji and trying to grab him. Grundy missed of course. He caught the image of a teenager in a black tuxedo and cape with a top hat and skullmask and a katana. Then Seiji was gone.
"Rule number two, know your enemy, know yourself, and you need not fear the results of a hundred battles. My uncles have used stories of you to frighten us children. Not only do I know you're lacking in the brains department, but you're actually very direct and gentle, until angered. Then you get confused and flip out and cars start learning how to fly."
"you talk too much, come out from shadows and fight skull boy." Grundy yelled.
"Nah, i value my roguish good looks too much." Seiji burst from his bakudo and sliced Grundy's right side, probing his skin, trying to get a feel for his reiatsu. He was looking for the soul chain and soul sleep, only... he couldn't find it.
How bizzare! Grundy didn't appear to have either! "the hell?" Seiji muttered.
"What is it?" Tachi asked quietly.
"He doesn't have a soul chain."
"So he's a hollow with a physical body, isn't that to be expected?"
"No, i mean as in no hole and no soul chain, like it was never here."
"What the hell?" (1)
"i don't know what to do with this finding." Seiji growled. "I could have reduced his power massively if i had a soul sleep to target."
"Nightrunner!" Batman's voice was strident in his ears. "Stay focused and prepare for another attack, Robin and I are readying a two pronged distraction."
"Alrighty baws!"
"What are you gonna do?" Tachi asked.
"gotta amp it up, i thought i could disable Grundy by targeting his soul sleep. But he doesn't have one. So he's got no point i can target to lower his power level. I've got to go the unninja way. Ready?"
"You bet."
"Soul resonance!" The Shihouin from one world and the weapon from another powered up.
Batman saw the burst of energy and started up his distraction. Seiji didn't power up his kusanagi, it would blow away the smoke used for his cover. Instead, he would activate shunko in the split second before the strike.
WOOSH! Seiji dove on Grundy in a blur of black, white and skull mask. "HA! ME GOT YOU SKULL BOY!" Grundy roared.
"Shunko..." Seiji said quietly.
The burst of white light shot up into Grundy's face, and Seiji got multiple high powered kicks in before he brought his blade down Grundy's front from shoulder to thigh. What Grundy didn't see, couldn't track, was the blow to his calves that knocked out his ability to move his legs.
BOOM! Grundy hit the ground hard. He blinked up at Seiji as the boy planted a foot on his chest. "Its over Grundy, i beat you. Now I want some information."
"over?" Grundy blinked stupidly. "Okay, fight over, no information though. Me hurt too much." Seiji almost thought he got a glimmer of impudence in Grundy's tone.
"oooh, somebody a sore loser?" Seiji taunted. "C'mon, I /could/ have killed you, and I didn't. You're not gonna be a chivalrous contender?"
"Chivvyruss? What is that?"
"you know, a code of honor and courtesy shared by all contenders? Ever notice how Superman always gives his enemy a chance to surrender, /and/ he never seriously injures them and fights on their level not his?"
Grundy's head tilted. "superman often stop fighting if Grundy down, Grundy no understand why?"
"its cause he's a nice guy."
"nice? Superman no nice, he punch Grundy?"
"Yeah but did he ever permanently injure you?"
"no..."
"There you go, fighting isn't nice, a chivalrous fighter is courteous about it, in a way that their enemy might not be."
"You no fight like Superman, Starlabs will have to fix Grundy for trial."
"Thats cause I'm not as strong as Superman, and i have a different set of training. I'm a nice guy, but I use the enemy's strength against them. Comes with being small and weedy." Seiji grinned. "I'm Nightrunner, my sword is named Shadow."
"hallo." Tachi brought his face to the surface of the blade for Grundy to see.
"We won't ever kill you Grundy, or do anything Star labs can't undo with a little bit of patience and hard work. But in return, we want some courtesy from our opponent, like information."
"She too pretty to give up. Such gorgeous hair... not purple like yours, more like up there." Grundy sighed, pointing to the sky and gushing like a smitten teenager.
Seiji smirked. "Thats all I needed." he disappeared. "Hey Bat-sama, call Star Labs for me will ya?"
Batman chuckled as Seiji began to hunt for Star Sapphire's soul on the rooftop. "What are you doing up there?" Robin asked.
"Looking for the soul of a pretty lady with gorgeous black hair." Seiji replied, "Be careful, I think I bruised Grundy's ego and i introduced him to the idea of a code of honor."
"holy... Nightrunner you're crazy! You went for the calves?"
"Wolves do it to moose, same strength comparison. My skills rely on hitting weakspots fast and hard and dodging potentially lethal blows. But the usual spot I target wasn't there on Grundy because he's /dead./" Seiji searched for and got what he wanted. Two souls, one asleep and grumpy but unharmed, the other dominent, irritable, and powerful, both glowing with vivid purple.
"Heheh, I found Star Sapphire."
Robin's jaw dropped. "/HOW/?"
Seiji jumped down. "i'm a grim reaper, I can find souls. Even if they aren't ready to die yet."
"There's a difference?"
"Yep, souls about to die look really sick and miserable. You can always tell a dying soul from one thats alive that way."
"What Grundy soul look like?" Grundy asked. Well, Seiji couldn't fault him for not being curious.
"Heh, maybe I'll tell you one day." Seiji stuck his tongue out at Grundy and blew him a raspberry. "You wouldn't tell me directly who was paying you and I had to compare it to my list of suspects. You showed me a discourtesy that way, so I'm showing you one."
"Grundy like pretty dames, Grundy no help it." Grundy sighed in disappointment.
Seiji's head shot up. "Star Sapphire just disappeared from my radar. But I'll show you where i saw her soul Batman."
Star labs pulled up then. "Not every day you call us Batman." The medics said jauntily.
"Get Grundy fixed for trial, call Doctor Hamilton in Metropolis and see if he'll lend you the equipment." Batman whirled, and he and Robin pulled out their grappling hooks.
Seiji waved. "Bye byeeeee..." He had a huge grin on his face. "Man, I can't believe we just toppeled Solomon Grundy without Superman! WOO HOOO!" And he was off.
"Alright Grundy, lets have a look at you." The medic began to assess Grundy's wounds. Police started pulling up.
"Grundy's legs no work below the knee." Grundy grunted. "Grundy feel legs down to toes, but Grundy no move legs."
"Jays George look at the damage to the calves, that's not Batman's style. Remember his last fight with Clayface?"
"Yeah, its not Robin's, Nightwing's, or Batgirl's either. You don't think it was that new kid?"
"Must be, god look at this, he deliberately missed arteries and nerves and just went for the muscles."
"Whelp Grundy lets getcha to Doctor Hamilton."
Batman smirked from the shadows. Seiji hadn't done half bad.
He found Robin, Nightrunner and Shadow gathered atop a bar. "Heeeey, I know this place, Puke-face owns it!" Robin grinned hugely. "I really hope Batman lets me wreck it up a bit. Its an Underbar."
"A what?"
"A bar catering to criminals. I mean yeah they also rent apartments to recent parolees and provide medical services to crooks but..."
"So basically a criminal relief station."
"Yeah. Batman is pretty specific about these. Don't completely wreck the place but don't be afraid to break something to get information. But if you get far too happy with the damage he doesn't like it. You saw Star Sapphire here?"
"Correction, I saw her soul. And it was pretty hard."
When Batman got back to the watchtower that night Superman was on the video phone with Doctor Hamilton. "So the report on Grundy's injuries come in?"
"Yeah, the hell did you guys do to Grundy's calves? Thats gonna be a pain in the ass to fix. We've got a dermal regenerator that's strong enough to work on his legs. But the calves?"
Superman winced. "More than likely the work of a young man Batman's mentoring."
Batman was busy helping himself to a mug of hot tea, and arrived at the video phone after a few minutes of Hamilton's complaining. "I'm not sure what was going through his mind going for the legs. He was targeting Grundy's core with physical blows and then for some reason changed his mind, used a body core blow as a distraction and blew the calf muscles out when Grundy was still trying to figure out what hit him. Kid's an ambush fighter Hamilton. He did with stealth and carefully controlled brawn what it normally takes Superman to do. All Robin and I did was provide a distraction."
"Maybe he decided Grundy's skin was too tough, sometimes I wonder if he somehow got rhino skin in that grave of his." Superman mused. "Its not as tough as mine Hamilton but its up there. Never could figure out why though."
Doctor hamilton rubbed his forehead. "A trainee? Fine, I guess given that he was new his sudden change of target can be excused. Just tell him not to use words Grundy's going to butcher in front of him. He keeps trying to say the world Chivalrous and can't quite manage it and with all the work I'm gonna have to do his speech impediments can get on my nerves." He looked tired and annoyed as the doctor hung up.
"You don't think it was that simple do you?" Superman asked.
"Nightrunner was looking for a weakspot on Grundy's body, and I don't think he found it, thats why he went for the legs. The thing is, i wouldn't have tried for a weakspot on his core, and Seiji knows better that a zombie wouldn't have a heart, diaphram, lungs, ecetera. What was he looking for?"
"Grundy has no soul sleep /or/ soul chain?" Seiji's mother asked, blinking in surprise. She looked over at her husband, but he seemed just as surprised. "you're certain?"
"hit him three times trying to find it. Its like he's just a mind, a very dim one, animating a dead body. But something is feeding him Reiryoku in a very subtle form. His skin is covered in it."
Seiji's father looked troubled.
"What is it father?"
"I'll tell you when you're older Seiji." Seiji's father left the room. Later that night Seiji used a bakudo to hide himself and Tachi and spy on his parents.
"A blank? How can you be sure, nobody's ever seen one and remembered what it looked like afterwards?"
"Not a blank Amana, but the memories left behind and not yet joined with /it./"
"So what should the clan do with this information?"
"Take Grundy off the Konso list and leave special instructions for senior Squad members to fight him only if he starts making a scene."
Doctor Hamilton found a young, masked youth waiting for him outside of where they would be fixing Grundy's legs. "And who are you?"
"Name's Nightrunner. I came to have a look at Grundy."
Doctor Hamilton eyed the katana in Seiji's belt, the kunai and shuriken attached to his waist near it. "you, you're that newbie Batman mentioned on the phone."
"Yeah, sorry, I was looking for my normal weakpoints on an opponent and not finding them. I'll bet calves are hard to fix."
"Muscles are difficult to put together properly, even more so than bones. You've given me a /lot/ of work to do you know." Doctor Hamilton was wary of this kid.
"I tried to avoid hitting nerves, I suspect it was a moot point though."
"Yes, well Grundy's skin is far less sensitive than a humans and his nervous system doesn't seem to fire synapses the way a living human's does."
"you try a nutrino senser?"
"What make's you think that will help?"
"Lucky guess, my people have a very different name for the particle you call "neutrinos." We call it Reishi, or spirit particles. Spirits need them to breathe. May I have a look?" (2)
"Certainly, and can you get him to use the phrase "honor code" instead of chivalry? He's been asking questions about it all night."
Seiji smiled, following doctor Hamilton into the lab to speak to Grundy.
"Well?" Tachi asked when Seiji exited an hour later.
"Fate's tower is our next stop." Seiji walked out of Star Labs' Gotham office and booked two train tickets.
They went in their secret identities, and then redressed when they got to Salem for the frigid weather. Seiji switched to a wool version of his costume with a cotton under layer. He started searching for the right park, there were many.
Still, Seiji had never been to Fate's tower. Nor had Doctor Fate ever met Seiji. Seiji couldn't find any trace of a soul powerful enough or divinely bright enough to be fate's.
By the time the sun started to go down, Seiji had simply stopped in what he thought to be the most likely of the city's parks. When the area was clear of humans he called out. "I SEEK AN AUDIENCE WITH THE ONE CALLED DOCTOR FATE! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME GIMME A SIGN WILL YA? ITS GETTING COLD OUT HERE!"
"Who goes?" The voice was deep and echoing through Seiji's and Tachi's souls.
"I am Nightrunner, a Grim reaper from the confederated clans and wielder of demon Katana Shadow. I seek the council of the fabled mystic."
"on what matter?"
"After a battle with him I wish to trace the origins of the zombie known as Solomon Grundy."
"Why?"
"I'm curious. My family Elders thought he would have a soul in that old carcass of his. He doesn't. Threw me for a friggin loop last night. My job is to cross dead souls over and i was always told he /had/ one by my father and the family Elders."
The voice seemed amused. "And you assumed your father knew everything? Very well child. I will let you in. I am not sure I can provide the answers you seek however. But I am curious. I have never met a Grim Reaper."
The tower shimmered slowly into view and a door opened in the side of it.
Shivering from the evening chill despite his wool uniform, he allowed Tachi the chance to return to his human form. "you okay boss?"
"yeah, man it got cold fast."
"Massachusattes' weather is notoriously quixotic." Fate replied, simply seeming to appear from nowhere. "My wife has some tea for you. Please come in."
"Thanks." Seiji shivered, rubbing his arms a bit to warm himself up.
"I suspect the frost will be early this year. The apple farmers in the region are harvesting a week early." Fate mused. "You can feel it in the air, as if the forces that give me my name are trying to stir a warning by chilling the breeze."
"Heh, been raining too much in Gotham lately. Granny's basement got swamped." Tachi sighed. "I remember the fit she threw when a whole grand in inventory for her shop got flooded. Tried to have it cleaned and dried in a day and found the local laundrymat couldn't do the trick."
"Thank god we were training with Batman at the time or we'd likely have been roped into doing it."
"interesting, Batman didn't mention he had new trainees. Sometimes he mentors superpowered youth he finds interesting enough to merit more attention. But he never says anything." Fate lead them up a staircase and opened a door that didn't seem to have any distinguishing marks. "Inza..."
"Right here, hojicha with ginger and honey. Young hero types hmm? It will do you no good if you catch cold. And try felted wool, not woven, its better up here. Especially in winter. I think the record was 7 degrees minus the windchill last year."
"Arigatou." Seiji sighed as he took the cup.
He started by explaining what a Grim Reaper did, what the Confederated Clans aimed for, and for some reason he told Fate about the hollows when he wouldn't have trusted Batman even with this information. "When a shinigami is outgunned and wishes a swift end to a fight, they target the soul sleep, the wellspring of a person's spiritual energy. A stunning blow can take months to recover from, a massively damaging blow can rob a spiritual fighter of their abilities with almost 100% no chance of getting them back without extremely painful, arduous training that could mean their death. I was hoping to land the former type of blow on Grundy, but i found no sign his soul was there. My parents were perplexed. He was always fairly high on the list of souls we had to cross over because it was assumed thats how his body was being animated. But no soul sleep or soul chain to target implies his soul is not there. Tell me Fate, have you ever heard anything like this in all your days? Is there a soul still in Grundy's body to be konso'd?"
"I am uncertain, to be honest. I've always wondered. Tracing spells that should work on Grundy do not, and all of them have used the soul as a tracking medium."
"I have methods of tracking souls as well, but Grundy, when i use the technique to try to track his I see his form enveloped in whisps of some kind of smoke or sand, they whirl about him like a sand storm, preventing me from seeing his soul's true nature."
"There is an alternate possibility, that his soul is simply fortified, or that its sleeping in his grave, sealed there and controlling his body remotely." Fate was clearly deep in thought. "But the whispy sands, I suspect they were mere traces of his spirit floating about him. Nothing more."
"if his body were being remotely controlled it wouldn't make sense though because I'd be able to see a soul chain leading from his body to his soul's location."
"I will consult the lords of order young Nightrunner, but I suspect your intuitive conclusion may be the right one."
"Then where'd his soul go? I'm a grim reaper I'm supposed to make sure souls go where they're supposed to and Grundy doesn't know his own strength enough, so he's not trustworthy to have around humans simply on his naivete. We suspect he worked for Star Sapphire before his recent capture simply because 'she was pretty.'"
Fate chuckled a little at that description. "he is unfortunately a little slow."
"you may stay and meditate for awhile by the fire." Inza told them. "Best to let Fate muse over the problem you've set him. That said, you guys are a tower first, we've never had a Grim reaper or "demon katana" as you put it as our guests."
"We try to keep a low profile. But Fate's is a figure I reverred, and in a different way from Batman. Batman I respect as a fellow ninja. But Fate I respect as i would an elder monk."
Seiji drank as much tea as he could, and allowed Fate to teleport him back to Gotham. "I will have your answer for you soon Nightrunner and Shadow, take care. I suspect the chill I sensed on the wind came from Coast city, and is headed here. But its exact nature, i cannot discern."
Seiji endured his mother and father's scolding and went right to bed. Fate's words bothered him. A chill wind from coast city, coming to gotham? and where was Grundy's soul?
The next morning Seiji woke up to part of an answer. "And in other news, a member of the Green Lantern corps was found unconscious on the beach of Coast City with no memory of how he got there. All signs point to a battle the night before, including the appearance of a giant tiger made from jade colored hard light which appeared above the harbor. Its words, though in Japanese, were recorded by a byestander the night before.
Seiji turned to the television and gasped. "Mom! MOOOOOOOOM!"
The tiger on the screen growled in Japanese. "That which you entrust to me, its rage at you for doing so will never subside. Even from its slumber, it will desire ever after to have its revenge." Seiji felt someone, or something, fading from his thoughts. Not his memories, those were still there, but he felt less inclined to think about someone. Who...
"Saya..." Seiji realized. "Something has happened to Saya!"
Seiji's mother came in, hands flying to her mouth when she saw the television but Seiji was already shunpoing for the phone. "MEIYO, MEIYOTOU, WHERE'S SAYA?"
"Hmmm?"
"IS SHE HOME!? ITS IMPORTANT!" Seiji exclaimed.
"no she didn't come home last night. She went out late on patrol with Hal Jordan."
"FIND HER GODDAMNIT! I THINK SHE'S IN TROUBLE!" Seiji yelled.
Then his pager went off. "Underbar, tonight, where sapphire is, we're catching her /tonight./" Batman's message was.
"Batman." Seiji sent. "Abort the attempt on sapphire, something is wrong."
"What?" Batman replied.
"Family trouble, my adopted cousin in coast city, I think she was abducted last night."
"Are you sure?"
"yeah, the news doesn't say who but Hal Jordan was found unconscious on the beach in Coast City early this morning."
"i'm contacting the local PD, sit tight."
"no, you are teleporting me with you to coast."
"no, /you/ are preparing for your battle with Star sapphire tonight." And with that Batman would return no more texts despite Seiji's repeated tries.
"out of the way!" John Stewart snarled as he shoved his way through the crowd of curiousity seekers and police to get to Hal. "Jordan what happened?"
"I dunno... last thing I remember I was out on patrol. Then i wake up with my charge Masamune's Haori covering me and this." He held out the pin. "The remains of a healing spell were all around me so I suspect I got hurt somehow on patrol. But i don't remember my attacker, or leaving with anybody."
Batman and John Stewart leaned in to examine it. "A pin?"
"yeah, I already checked it over ten times. Its an ordinary pin."
"its not meant for you. Its meant for someone to find you." Batman said with an arch of his brow. "That symbol, a maple leaf and a camelia flower. It means something to someone."
"I guess we'll just have to wait till that someone shows up then won't we?"
"Yeah." Batman sighed, not happy with the situation. "This Masamune kid, she the type to skip town without notice?"
"no. and she loved going out on patrol with me." Hal got this depressed look on his face. "Batman Masamune viewed me as the uncle she never had. And I know this is her Haori."
"Then she must have left that pin because she wanted someone to find you, the question is /who/?"
"her father's Ganthet's secretary." John told Batman. "She's as wild for the corps as most kids are for rockstars and pro atheletes and thats all she's ever wanted to be. Her father is some kind of Grim Reaper or something, and a master swordsmith."
It flashed through Batman's head in an instant. Seiji saying to Robin "i'm a grim reaper, I can find souls. Even if they aren't ready to die yet."
"They're connected." Batman turned and strode through the crowd, calling for the teleporter to bring him back.
Some quick checking at Saya's house by John Stewart showed that Masamune hadn't come home last night /and/ disagreement between Saya's mother and Hal Jordan as to whether or not masamune went out with him last night. "Someone got to Jordan's memories." Batman told Stewart.
"What makes you say that?"
"No memory of how he got hurt? No memory of Saya going with him? Thats not a coincidence." Batman growled. "Flash, get moving to coast city and search it for any sign of the missing meta human girl that John and Hal are looking for. Hal Jordan may not be a member but he /is/ a trusted ally."
"And where are you going?"
"To see a grim reaper about a soul." Batman replied.
Seiji was meditating when Batman arrived. "I need to know right now where you come from, what /exactly/ you do and who would want to kidnap your adopted cousin."
"Then something did happen to her!" Seiji shot upright. "Damnit, Fate was right, there was a chill wind in Coast."
"And /when/ did you visit him?"
"I wanted more information about grundy, my /job/ is to protect human souls remember? He's been a curiousity to the Confederated Clans for years but we've never been able to cross him over because of his brawn. Then i get the chance, first time ever a Shihouin or member of our squad could do so, and lo and behold he has none. But when he brought me home, Fate said he sensed a cold wind coming to Gotham from coast city."
Batman understood. Doctor Fate sometimes had a feeling when something bad was going to happen to someone. He was privately keeping a record of his "hits" without telling the mystic so that he wouldn't taint the statistics. When Fate gave that kind of warning though, it meant a battle was coming.
"What... does... your... clan... fight against...?" Batman ground out. "Because whatever it is its pretty high on the list of suspects."
Seiji's eyes flicked to his parents. "Batman, at the beginning of this, we told you we would not allow you to pry into Clan matters. We will investigate Saya Labeaux Kuchiki's disappearance, not you." Seiji's father said firmly. "I think you should leave now."
Seiji bowed his head then. And Batman knew he wasn't going to get anywhere.
I have a duty, and, the obligation of a student to his sensei. My parents finally decided my training with Batman was to be at an end and cut off contact. However, i was not ready to sever my spirit's ties to the man who is also a bat.
Perhaps, Robin guessed this. For he appeared at my window that night with Static.
"C'mon, we've got a sting tonight."
"But I'll get in trouble, I have to obey my parents and my clan." Seiji's eyes widened.
"Dude, you like the life of a super hero right? A hero has a duty to their entire city and everyone in it, and they stick together. And besides, would that cousin of yours who loves the Green Lantern corps so much really want you to quit being a hero just because Batman and your parents don't get along? Don't worry, I'll help you and Tachi sneak out." Static offered Seiji a thumbs up.
"i'll get changed, go wake up Tachi." Seiji pulled the curtains and changed and geared up in record time.
Then they were off. The Underbar's seedy laughter and smells of tobacco and alcohol spoke of something forbidden in the teenager of the four boy heroes.
Then suddenly it exploded. A figure in white with teal hair emerged from the flames with a familiar figure by the cowl. "BATMAN!" The dark knight had blood leaking from under his cowl and was only half conscious.
The teal haired figure silouetted in the light from the fire lifted him up and turned to the three boys and weapon. "Heh, unless you want me to blow your mentor to smithereens, come down and fight me Bat-cubs!" Grimmjow roared, laughing hysterically.
Two Face came running out of the bar with a tommy gun in hand and started shooting at Grimmjow. "yeh damn bastard, you know how long it took to get this establishment running?"
"your /establishment/ doesn't even have proper booze human filth." Grimmjow raised a bottle of cheap vodka to his lips and drank it /all/. "The vodka is as cheap as hell and stings like battery acid!" The bullets just bounced off him.
Grimmjow turned, and in an instant Two Face was on the ground clutching his chest. "can't... breathe..."
"oh you wuss!" a red haired woman dressed in green leapt from the bar, her words slurred drunkenly.
"holy hell in a handbasket." Robin's jaw dropped. "Is Poison ivy drunk?"
"I'm not drunk I'm just fucked up with nothing to take it out on!" ivy snarled, throwing an empty whiskey bottle at Robin. "hey I remember... I remember you!" She slurred. "you messed up that last Con I did with Harley! hey you cost me a lot of money you know!" That was directed at Static.
"omigosh! Batman I'll save you sweetie!" Catwoman leapt out of the bar, clearly drunk as she was wobbling like one of Penguin's signature birds and an empty wine bottle was dropped at the door. "Then we can play cat and mouse all night... i love playing cat and mouse... I chase you, you chase me, i kiss you, you push me away and tell me to get out of where I am, I try to tempt you to the dark side, you angst until you're over me and we do the whole thing over again two or three times a year."
Ivy and Two Face stared at Catwoman. "i can't believe you've fallen /that/ hard for the guy who regularly puts you in jail."
"Bitch, I'm a masoshist." Catwoman slurred. "point is, we're batman's enemies, we were having a nice pleasant drink, and then you go and fuck it up by trying to kill him before we could do the job /and/ you set the bar on fire!" Catwoman whined. "Can't a girl catch a break?"
Grimmjow laughed. "Sure, you can catch a broken ribcage!" Grimmjow viciously kicked Catwoman thirty feet back into the flaming bar.
Two face couldn't /breathe/. Grimmjow was strangling him with his reiatsu. And despite the distraction of grabbing Poison Ivy by the hair and smashing her face repeatedly into the wall he was able to control the pressure enough that Two face never lost consciousness, /but/ he also couldn't move. It was as good as if the gangster were bound with a bakudo.
"holy shit... I... I got nothin..." Robin's eyes were huge behind his mask, total shock on his face. "He's not even trying to unmask Batman he's just dragging him like a doll.
"What do we do?" Static had an attack ready to go, but he wasn't sure he could just hit Grimmjow. And he wasn't even sure it would do damage.
Seiji didn't hesitate, with an arrancar on the loose, he summoned his shunko and initiated Soul Resonance. Huge white wings of shunko burst from his shoulders, and not angelic ones either, white batlike wings of shunko energy. He couldn't fly with them, but he could glide. "KUSANAGIIIIIII!" Seiji bellowed, a blaze of fire covering Tachi and transforming his weapon form to enormous size.
Seiji dove on Grimmjow. "YOUR RAMPAGE ENDS HERE ARRANCAR!" he roared.
"boring." Grimmjow held up his free hand and caught Tachi, sending Seiji flying. He then gave Batman a halfway decent shove into the nearest brick surface. "i don't see why Aizen-sama is so worried about you being a threat to his plans. Such a foul mouthed little brat. No way in hell this little worm took down Grundy."
"He WHAT?" Two Face demanded. His head was the only thing able to move and it shot up, staring in shock at the kid that Grimmjow now had by the wrist.
"yeah, oh Batman gave cover fire... but he had Grundy flat on his back and as submissive as a surly kitten in ten minutes, no superman need be called." Grimmjow smirked. "i was hoping a fight against you would be sooo much more satisfying than these little cubs!"
Batman groaned on the ground. "Run... Nightrunner, Robin, Static, thats an order run..." He rasped.
"NO WAY!" Seiji was trying desperately to free his sword arm from Grimmjow's crushing grip. It was, however, only Static that saved his proverbial bacon. The young hero, a look of terror quickly hardening to anger, on his face, lifted his hand and started sending shards of metal debris aiming for Grimmjow's forehead. "NO WAY AM I LEAVING YOU BATS!" One of them, a large mesh of chain link fencing swooped down and scooped Batman up.
Grimmjow dropped Seiji's wrist and grabbed a large chunk of brick masonry. He leapt at Static, headlong and smashed him in the gut with it. Then Static was down, being kicked viciously by Grimmjow, over and over, right in the gut. Grimmjow could have gone for the head, and crushed Static's skull easily. But through the haze of the pain Static could hear Grimmjow laughing in sadistic delight.
Without even looking up, Static took control of an electrified cable that was down and wrapped it around Grimmjow's throat, wrists, and ankles. The cable sparked, electrocuting Grimmjow. He screamed in rage. "YOU LITTLE SHITSTAIN!" Grimmjow ripped his wrists free and Static got an elbow to the face, flying backwards into the debris.
Static saw but fire and ash covered bricks, then two black boots hobbled towards him. A cat o nine tails was set down for a moment. "Its okay kid, I may be a criminal, but I don't let children die. Not like this..." Catwoman grumbled. "i'mma get you some help. And get Batman some help too... just gotta get you outta here. Pammy's already split, and I think Grimmjow is deterimined to make Harvey watch his savagery no matter what." Static couldn't answer, he felt himself being lifted. He heard a female voice whimpering in pain, punctuated by soft muffled prayers, and then nothing.
Robin and Seiji were now forced to face off with Grimmjow, alone. Batman kept muttering, half conscious, for them to run. "I am a grim reaper of a noble clan Batman, even if its the end of me I don't run." He looked over at Robin. "hey, if we don't make it out of this, its been an honor working with you guys."
"Don't talk like that, though I am flattered." Robin had a nice, hard, nth metal baton at the ready.
"Cover me, we need to pull a duel grundy." Seiji's eyes turned steely, golden, and slitted. A soft growl rumbled from his throat, he raised Tachi and charged once more.
Robin got a devilish grin on his face as he and Seiji began to speed around Grimmjow, darting into and out of the shadows and slicing at Grimmjow with harassing blows. Robin's smoke bombs were combined with Seiji's kagekukkenryu attack and /this/ time, /this/ time, Seiji didn't have to hold back.
Grimmjow however, simply waited till he could sense Robin's next attack and caught him by the throat. He then swung Robin around into Seiji, literally smacking him in the face with the boy wonder. Grimmjow then repeatedly slammed Robin into Seiji. Seiji struggled to get back to his feet and got hit again.
They were getting slammed. Robin finally got Grimmjow in the eyes with a leftover grenade from their fight with Grundy. Grimmjow screamed in agony, thrashing about. He threw Robin into his mentor, and there the boy wonder collapsed, finally unable to continue.
Not far away, Catwoman was carrying Static towards the nearest hospital. She was moving very slowly, but she'd gotten them a couple of blocks distance from the battlefield.
And then, suddenly, a man who's eyes were utterly blank stood in her path. "I thought you were a criminal, yet you pull a child from a burning building. How strange."
"Children, don't deserve to die, not... that... way..." Catwoman gasped out.
"no, they don't, but someone I loved didn't deserve to die either, and she still did." Tousen's attack was vicious and too fast to track. Catwoman fell to the ground, Static's unconscious form rolling a couple of feet from her. He called into a radio. "Aizen-sama, I've found two of the stray elements."
"Why?" Catwoman rasped out.
"Because there is no justice in this world, not when she didn't have to die, and did." Tousen growled, releasing his reiatsu.
Catwoman screamed in agony. "Very good, Gin and I have neutralized poison ivy and the other criminals fleeing the underbar. There will be no testimony for the Justice league to collect."
"did you find what you needed?"
"Sort of, Gotham has massive amounts of negative polarity reishi, but its not the right frequency and there isn't enough."
"So..."
"It will need some tinkering to be hospitable."
Catwoman's panic was rising, she couldn't move, she couldn't breathe.
Then two more figures arrived, and the first figure began to wave smelling salts under Static's nose to wake him.
The teen groaned. "This one first, he can't stay awake very long."
Catwoman raised her head, struggling against Tousen's reiatsu. She got her whip up, got control of her arm... CRACK! She got Tousen's cheek. The man turned as the new comers bent down over Static and waved some kind of pale blue light in his eyes. "Excellent, we can use the concussion Grimmjow inflicted quite well."
"you're... wrong... there is... justice..." Catwoman gasped, struggling determinedly against the force of Tousen's reiatsu. "... I've... seen... him... I... believe..."
"Shut /up./" Tousen kicked her, hard. "Where was justice when someone I loved dearly needed it? If one person gets justice and someone else does not, there /is/ no justice."
"Alright, we're done."
"he any use?"
"not for our purposes, we've erased his memories of the incident."
"Now for her, hurry it up, her gushing over Batman irritates me. He's not justice, he's just like I am." Tousen sneered. "And if that little shihouin brat doesn't come with us tonight, Batman is dead."
Grimmjow had Batman by the throat. "You have two choices, come with me or I snap his neck." He told Seiji. "One more move, just one more, and I knock his head off like popping the top off a beer bottle." And right now Grimmjow was seriously wishing he had some. Why'd he have to smash that keg over the clown faced bar patron's head? Even if he divided it equally between his fraccion, it would have gotten him fairly inebriated. Oh but that idiot clown person had actually wanted to fight him. Well, he got his wish, and flying lessons.
Seiji froze, eyes widening, face paling in horror. "run..." Batman rasped. "get... out... find the league..."
"Heh, running will do you no good. At this very moment Aizen-sama is erasing the memories of witnesses. When he arrives, it will be to Batman as if you never existed. He goes on fighting evil, and you're our prisoner. He'll never know we got away with it in /his/ precious Gotham under his nose. How's that for pride bruising aye Butts?" Grimmjow sneered.
"Shut up..." Seiji growled, throwing Tachi into the nearest wall.
"no SEIJI!" Tachi cried.
"SHUT UP!" Seiji roared. "i'm the one they want, and even if they aren't just erasing memories, someone has to be left to tell the story."
"NO DON'T GO!" Tachi cried, transforming back into a human and attacking Grimmjow.
Seiji hit Tachi hard in the stomach with a bakudo.
"why?" Tachi asked pitifully as he fell to the ground.
"You aren't just my weapon or my sidekick, you are nakama. And I cannot allow you or anyone else to die. Arrancar, if you're not so far gone in booze and blood to care, gimme a minute." (3)
Seiji bent over Batman's prone form, crying, and slipped two pieces of paper he'd meant to give Batman after Star Sapphire had been captured into his utility belt, and his hat on Batman's chest. "i'm sorry Bat-sama... but I cannot let them take your life. Though you won't remember, I will treasure the days I spent learning from you for centuries after your mortal body has turned to dust."
The papers were a recipe. "Nightrunner's Ghost Curry and Honey do cornbread..." and a picture. The picture was of Seiji standing over Grundy's prone cuffed form with Robin and doing a victory dance while Batman glowered at them in the background. Not a bad likeness, not a professional one. In the upper right corner of the page was Seiji and Tachi helping Alfred with the chores, and in the lower left, Seiji happily serving curry to the Justice league.
On the back of the picture was the kanji for "purpose" and the words "We stand in awe before that which cannot be seen, and respect with every fiber that which we cannot explain."
Lost on the way, no one to blame, no one to save,
nothing to do with the way everything's changed
As Seiji stood up, a look of mourning on his face, Aizen arrived and as Tousen lead him away in a bakudo, Seiji could hear Aizen say quietly. "Shatter, Kyoka Suigetsu."
As Batman's memories of Seiji began to fade he prayed, something he never did unless he was at his absolute lowest.
I saw it coming... and still, I couldn't stop them from taking an innocent... father... mother... please forgive me... i couldn't... keep... my vow tonight...
Given the chance I would happily dance on the grave of the one
who shows no remorse
Batman began to dream of that night... the gunshot, the pearls hitting the gritty pavement, the blood staining the sidewalks of America's dirtiest most depressed city. "MOMMA! DADDY!"
I failed... I... what?
And then nothing...
Lost I feel a little like, a child who's lost, a little light,
everything's changed a lot, I didn't like all of the pain,
everything's changed
Rain poured down, soaking a depressed Seiji as he tried to keep his composure through the carnage. "So... are you taking me prisoner... bringing me to be executed in Seireitei like a stray dog?" Seiji sneered.
"What makes you think that?" Tousen asked.
"Soul society likes to keep a dominant grip over shinigami powers, because they can cause untold havoc when fully released upon a population." Seiji replied. "They don't see a child who inherited his skill and descended from legitimate clan members, they see a threat and a userper."
"The soul society took someone I loved dearly away from me. She didn't have to die, and they let her anyway. Because there is no justice, I will have revenge. If you truely believe yourself to be that reviled Seiji Shihouin, join us. Your only other fate is eternal suspension, neither dead nor alive and never aging. Your years, your life span, frozen."
I'm confused, a lot of it, is hard to take, and cause of it,
everything's changed I thought I'd make it through the pain
everything's changed
Nothing is plain
Nothing can be explained, Nothing can be explained, nothing explained
"never... I am a ninja, I value my duty to the souls of Gotham, and my fealty to the bat, and Bat-sama would never, never want me to resort to revenge, nor you." Seiji said dully.
"Suit yourself..."
"He understands where you are..."
"I beg your pardon?"
"I /said/ Bat-sama understands where you are emotionally, losing a loved one for seemingly no reason."
"SHUT UP!"
"it bothers you doesn't it? Batman is so much like you, you desperately want to bring justice to the world and when it was denied you you wanted everyone to hurt as much as you did. Trust me, Bat-sama has been in that place before emotionally."
Tousen slapped Seiji, hard, on the cheek, steering him towards the shore.
Given the chance I would happily dance on the grave of the one
who shows no remorse
Given the chance I would happily dance on the grave of the one
who shows no remorse
Then Seiji saw the enormous sapphirine figure waiting on the beach near Gotham harbor. The dragon was enormous, the color of brightest sapphires.
"Was Star Sapphire ever there?" Seiji asked, looking up at Tousen.
"only briefly the night Grundy was beaten... you're right, it was a trap from the start... Gin asked her on a date to the Underbar, then stood her up."
"So thats how you knew about Grundy..."
"yes, Aizen used his zanpakuto to disguise himself as Star Sapphire and get Grundy to leave a trail a mile long for Batman." Replied Tousen quietly.
"Bastard." Seiji muttered.
"Kneel before the God brat." Tousen pushed Seiji down on the ground and knelt there on one knee.
Lost on the way, no one to blame, no one to save,
nothing to do with the way everything's changed
Lost on the way, no one to blame, no one to save,
nothing to do with the way everything's changed
"Are you certain? My holding power is not absolute." The dragon growled in Japanese. "The wrath of the imprisoned may well be enough to break free of my mighty coils. I am Seiryuu, the God of all Waters. The oceans and rivers heave with the strength of my sinuous back. I read this one's connections to this world, they are strong, I may not be able to hold him forever."
"My lord, we do not need him held forever, only out of the way long enough to not interfere in our plans."
"Very well Kaname Tousen..." The dragon crashed his massive head down, and ate Seiji. Then it sank back into the waves.
And there was nothing...
Batman screamed, thrashing on his cot as the memories came crashing back. Far off, Doctor Fate's head snapped up, clear as a bell he heard a voice calling. Bat-sama, gomenasai, I could not let them take your life. Fate was right. A chill wind has come to Gotham, bundle up Ojii-sama. (4)
Static sat up in bed at Wayne manor with a scream, so did Robin, simultaneously. At her guest room at Arkham, Catwoman lay there moaning feverishly, her breath rasping mumbling in her sleep. "there is... justice... I have seen him..."
Two Face woke up in his bed in Arkham with a howl, a burst of reiatsu broke the side of his cell open and he fled from it in confusion and rage.
Poison Ivy lay delirious in her bed in the inn, head swimming with the memory of that night, vivid, terrible and heady as a hallucinogenic drug, and /very/ /very/ real.
Yoruichi hopped up onto Robin's bed. Tim pulled Yoruichi into his arms and cried. "I can't believe I forgot that night Shadow... that teal haired monster... I knew he felt familiar. He took Seiji away..."
"Row?" Yoruichi head tilted.
"it was that blasted man with the brown hair, the one in the japanese coat... he did it, he made me forget a really good friend even existed..." Tim Drake hugged Yoruichi tightly. "i can't believe I forgot. You should have seen him Shadow, when he got excited or angry, his eyes would look just like yours, slits and all. And he could make these wings out of beautiful white light. But he wasn't an angel, they were bats wings so you knew he was one of us. He said he was a grim reaper, but I never understood if that was for show..."
Yoruichi listened, realizing that Timothy was describing an encounter with one of her clansmen. But there was nobody named Seiji that she knew of, legit or rogue /or/ hollowfied by Aizen's experiments.
But there was the incident, 200 years ago during the Quincy wars... the disappearance of a hundred and fifty omnikitsudo members.
Was her brother Eshu still alive somewhere? Was he in this world? Was that why central could find no trace of him? Why the omnikitsudo, top trackers and chasers of men both missing and fugitive, failed?
Yoruichi climbed up onto the window as Alfred hurried in. "Master Timothy, Master Bruce has requested that you and Master Virgil join him for some tea."
"This late?"
"Chamomile for you, if i recall your midterms did not get zapped by the EMT sir, and are still pending in two weeks."
Tim groaned, "don't remind me."
Yoruichi watched them go.
Ambush bug was already gone. He found Flash in the watchtower in his quarters. He'd fallen asleep making plans to try to cheer up Orihime.
What Flash would have heard was a soft, sad alto voice calling out. "Flash-sempai... please find me soon... you can bend space can't you...? Then let me out! I want to fly again. I need the open sky the way you need speed Flash-sempai."
In the blackness, an angelic figure came into focus, a very sad angelic figure curled in a fetal position, in the belly of a giant, translucent spirit turtle. I was never here, nor there, never part of anything. Although I had plenty of reasons to be full of sorrow in my short life... /he/ always reminded me that smiling was always preferable to tears and that life was beautiful.
And because life was beautiful, even the most disgusting examples of human beings could be forgiven.
Arigatou, Flash-sempai...
1. This is consistant with and foreshadowing Hawkgirl's experiences in "The terror beyond" in which the justice league discovers that Grundy's soul is seperate from his mind and located in parts unknown.
2. There's a popular paranormal theory that supposes ghosts are somehow made of neutrinos, but their proposed properties do not 100% match Bleach's description of Reishi. To make them act as Reishi does, another component is needed.
3. Cue song "nothing can be explained" from the bleach soundtrack.
4. Translations, "Forgive me lord bat" and "honored grandfather" respectively.
